Klan Rally at Gettysburg Canceled Due to Federal Shutdown

GETTYSBURG, Pa., Oct. 1 (UPI) — A Ku Klux Klan rally scheduled Saturday at the Gettysburg, Pa., National Military Park has been canceled due to the federal government shutdown.

The park is closed, and all permits for special events in October have been rescinded, a park statement said.

That includes two planned weddings and “First Amendment” demonstration of the white supremacist Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which received a permit to congregate near Meade’s Headquarters on the Gettysburg battlefield grounds during the upcoming weekend, the news website Pennlive.com reported Tuesday.

The Ku Klux Klan is among a growing list of radical anti-government groups, the Southern Poverty Law center reported earlier this year.

Richard Preston, head of the Maryland-based Klan group, said he has people looking into the possibility of holding the rally in Gettysburg’s town square, adding he will likely attend a rally Saturday with no more than 10 participants.

He did not mention the number of people expected at the battlefield demonstration.